Open Air Motoring with V8 Convertibles

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[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Gran Touring Motor Sports Podcast Break Fix, where we’re always fixing the break into something motor sports related. What’s going on everybody? I’m Brad. With me as always, my co-host, Eric. Hello. We have a special guest tonight. We’ve got John from the Project Motoring. He’s also a G T M member.

All right. As you might recall, we’ve mentioned many times before in this show, the constant debate within GTM called, what Should I Buy? Not An hhr. And in tonight’s episode, we hyperfocus on which V8 convertible should I buy. So John, describe your shopping criteria. So we were talking earlier a couple weeks ago, Hey, summer’s coming around.

We’ve all been locked inside for Covid. Maybe we’re not tracking so much, but what would be a fun summer car if we wanted to buy as a toy? So naturally, all of us stuff coops and sedans and really have their, the sports cars or anything. So we’re thinking what is a good open air? Car to have. Now obviously there [00:01:00] was a lot out there and we were kind of narrowing it down to V8 S for more for the driver experience, the audible noise and all that.

Our idea, our debate went into what V8 convertible could we buy or would we buy if we were in the market? Now all lot of questions arise outta that as far as price points, new or sold, and uh, those are some of the things we wanted to get to and talk about and maybe flush out here now. So let’s do some clarifying questions here, John.

Some of the most important being, does this need to be a manual car, manual transmission car? I would say it. There is no requirement for that. I actually was thinking of some of that or not, because that would be the buyer’s choice. So if this isn’t gonna be strictly a track car, but just a, a toy car, a street car, just something you wanna cruise around in, or if you want to beat the balls off of it at the drag strip or something, that would be buyer’s choice.

I have a couple suggestions that one actually is an automatic. Others may have some as well. Not only is manual, extremely rare in today’s new and even, [00:02:00] uh, somewhat late model used car market convertible and v8. Those are, uh, three, I don’t wanna say dying breeds, but certainly three traits that are hard to find together.

Absolutely. So I, I think in the new car market there’s maybe, you know, cars that are of that ilk and are, are less than a hundred thousand dollars. I think there’s maybe four in the market. Mm-hmm. . So, so no, there’s no requirement for me. Okay. Okay. So my other question then is could it be an engine swapped car where it didn’t start its life as a va, but it can accept a V8 as a project car?

So I would say I would add those to maybe the honorable mention list, because I think the spirit of this car is maybe not so much. Spending that much time on it. I, I, I think once we just start doing engine swaps, the sky is the limit as well as your money and imagination. So I think it’s cars that we can kind of turnkey go.

Okay. Um, but I, I am [00:03:00] interested to hear some of those ideas because instantly you start talking instantly. I mean, you can fit an LS in anything. So 9 44 convertible with an LS swap, right? I mean, let’s, yeah. Right. I can end this podcast right here, right now with one one Car Nissan Murano Cross Cab Relay

Oh, man. Right, right there. Goodnight everybody. Goodnight everybody. I’ll talk to y’all later. So, you know, Brad brings up a good point. Here’s something I didn’t have on the list, but just, uh, your Nissan Murano makes me think of it. What? Uh, what? Gt GT Cruiser. , right? No, no. Any, you know what I didn’t have on the list, but it absolutely meets the criteria we’re talking about at, uh, Ford Bronco.

That was actually one of my clarifying questions. Did it need to actually be a car or could it be a SB or truck of some sort or truck ed? I think. I think open air motoring is open air mo motoring. Okay. I mean if you wanted to have [00:04:00] an aerial atom with the HBO of V8 in it, um, there you go. That’s true. You can certainly bring that up.

I don’t know if that’s viable car. You do have a price point though, right? What is your Right. So we’re thinking this is obviously not gonna be, or it could be a daily driver, but certainly not in the Northeast. It’d be difficult. I mean for the more brave they can do that, but that’s gonna, uh, include some tire swaps for winter tires, different set of wheels, and now we’re getting into different things.

I mean, if the spirit of the car is it to be a toy car? Um, it’s generally gonna be a, not primarily a daily driver or maybe a seasonal driver. So I would say it’s probably gonna be on the cheaper end of things. So I would say most people for a first car, they might have a budget of $50,000. Right. So just for arguments sakes.

I was gonna say that’s pretty much the cap. I think the realistic range here. For the majority of the audience or just the, uh, the public. If they’re getting a second or third car that’s a toy, you’re probably gonna be anywhere between [00:05:00] 15 and 30,000 depending on what your situation is in kids. But I think anything with an asking price of 45 or 50,000 market value, there’s gonna be examples where you can find them for 35 or 40.

So, exactly. And, and just to clarify, who is the we in this equation? You keep saying we, we, we, uh, just to just see, is this with your, your, your dad or your, your mom or who? Who’s the we? Is it with Arrigo? ? No, I, I, I think, uh, we, in the conversation is, is mostly some of the, some of the people talking about the topics and trying to flush out, I wasn’t sure if you were doing this with a group of people.

No, no, no. So I think it’s just mostly just some of what we were talking about before in preparation for this. Uh, and I think some of my suggestions are actually gonna revolve around different buyers, and I’m gonna point that out. Different cars for different folks, for different situations that might be better or others.

So, so to John’s point, right, I think he’s referring to the GTM Royal we, and I’m gonna put air quotes around that, just to take a step back to clarify for the folks that aren’t on the, what should I buy [00:06:00] Channel on Slack. I actually posed this question a couple weeks ago, as you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation, where it was like, Hey, I’m already thinking about my next project car and I’m leaning towards a convertible, a Cabrio, a vert, whatever you wanna call it.

But my criteria isn’t nearly as sharp as yours is because I’m okay with a four banger. I’m okay with, you know, it doesn’t matter really, the power plant. I wanted something fun a little bit. Stylish, but I’m also a lot cheaper. So for me, I wanna chop that last zero off of there and go, what can I buy for five grand?

Right? ? And then by the time knowing, knowing me and how, you know, kind of anal retentive I can be about the build. Yeah, I’ll, I’ll probably end up being close to 30 by the time I’m done. I guess my starting price point is very different. So that was actually another clarifying question I had on my list was, are you a hundred percent locked to a V8 car?

I mean, I wanna have this debate about V8 s for sure, but I wanna know if I can pepper in some oddballs as we go along as a possible consideration. So I had, I had a [00:07:00] couple thoughts about that too. Looking at the market, oh, lot of the new cars are actually six cylinders or four bang of turbo four s or even turbo six s to replace the eight cylinders.

I think NA motors in general with emissions and fuel regulations are are dying. So again, that it’s gonna look really limit a both if you wanna buy new, because if we’re talking up to $50,000, you can go buy a lot of brand new cars and then some. If not two of them. Some of these I would say I certainly wanna discuss the best options for that engine, be dammed once we kind of flush out a little bit there, because I think there’s a lot of strong contenders.

I was actually looking at a list of brand new convertibles for sale at dinner tonight and it’s, it’s not a lot of cars and then I think it’s something like less than 20% of ’em even had a v8. So, and very much to your point when I was researching, I was just kind of, you know, doing the cursory cars.com, eBay, Autotrader stuff and just going, okay, start with just convertibles.

Yeah, I got 3 million cars to go through, you know, that are available from, you know, 1900 to today. And then I start adding a manual transmission and a V8 and, [00:08:00] and this and that and the other thing. And by the time I was done, I was like, I got 500 cars to pick from nationwide. So it really narrowed it down and that’s why I wanted to make sure that, you know, your search criteria was a little bit more open to suggestion because that can bring in some really interesting cars in that price point that you, that you’ve brought up.

And I know you suggested one this morning, so maybe we start with that. We were talking earlier and I said, you know what I was looking at. I was kind of thinking about this and I said, okay, so here we are. We’re gonna go in the very strictest interpretation of our own rules. So we have a budget of between 40 and $50,000 or less.

We want an open air motoring car, we want a v8, right? So what is the purpose of this and why are we looking for really, like, what started the conversation? And the conversation was like, what’s a good driving experience outside of what we’re normally used to? Cage cars we’re on track or everything, right?

So obviously convertibles or target, just, we’ll call it open air motoring. Mm-hmm. , uh, a little more of wet noodles as a chassis, not necessarily known as, [00:09:00] as sharp as some other vehicles. Why are we like hung up on V eight for sound, right? We want that audible driving experience and the VA pours out. So when I’m thinking open air driving experience back road bombing in the 40, $50,000 or less range, I said, yeah, you know what, how about a 1989 to 19 93, 94, I believe they ran up to 95 Ferrari 3 48.

The three 40 eights are in a weird spot. , there’s still a four valve motor, but before the 3 55 s where they became the valve lash adjustments, you do have to do the service out the engine out for the major. But maintenance aside, which you can skin away with is 300 some horsepower. You can get convertible or a target.

It’s like 8,900 RPMs or 8,500 RPMs. They absolutely scream. They sound awesome. Shrill. It sounds like a bike or an F1 car going down the road. Very Miami Vice. I mean to this day it’s not the mo, it’s not the most prettiest Ferrari, but there’s certainly one where it’s quintessential Ferrari. It went away from the 3 0 8 and the 3 28 and the fact that it’s [00:10:00] got, it’s kinda like the baby tester with the thing.

So it’s, it’s, it’s one off styling almost the 3 55 after that went back to a little more classic lines. So I think the three 40 eights are at the bottom of their price point. Much like a C five Z will be. I, I don’t think they’re ever gonna get cheaper than they are now. You can get a driver experience quality car.

For probably between 30 and 45. I mean, it’s not gonna be pristine. It’s gonna have 30 to 50,000 miles on it, but we’re driving the car. We’re not looking for investments. Right. Here’s the problem with the, with the, uh, Ferrari, right? There’s, there’s two types of peoples, a Ferrari, that’s the problem with the Ferrari’s.

Two types. People who are gonna buy the Ferrari, right? Especially with 3 48. One. Someone who knows nothing about cars or wants a Ferrari because it’s a Ferrari and that’s what they can. So outside of maybe like a Mondale, I just threw up a little bit in the back of my throat. Yeah, exactly. They’ll go out and buy any Ferrari they can afford because it’s a Ferrari.

Now if you look at 3 0 8 s, 3 28, [00:11:00] 3 55 s and even 360 s, the 360 is a little more, uh, uh, a 3 55 with a rough, uh, life or history. It’s about the same price as the 3 48 and three oh eights and three 20 eights or 3 48. Ironically, they’re all about the same mileage. They’re all the same price. Right now, they’re all between 30 and 60,000.

The cleaner ones are more, the ones you don’t wanna deal with are less. The ones that are drivable and serviceable are in that range. So literally any car you wanna buy from 1980 to like 1994, you can get yourself a a Ferrari for $50,000. My suggestion would be the one with the most horsepower and the newest and most modern chassis.

Anyone who drives a 3 48 who reviews it says it’s absolutely amazing. Now, with that being said, . Want me to circle back one First person buys Ferrari doesn’t care. It says Ferrari. It sounds cool. It looks cool. I know nothing about the car. I’m gonna pay someone to do it and I just want a Ferrari. That’s your buyer at $45,000, $40,000.

The second is someone who doesn’t give a crap about the prestige or the fact that it’s a Ferrari. So much as the brand. As much as I want a car that’s open, [00:12:00] air handle’s awesome. Very European silent mid engine screams, a lot of fun, small, it’s manual steering. There is no power steering on them. They’re really the big go-karts at the time.

Cuz if you ever look at the 3 48 direction, really small. They’re an acquired taste. And I think you and I share that as the oddball that actually appreciate the 3 48 styling because it is, I I, I enjoy them. It, they’re very subdued. And, and I remember when the 3 48 ion came out, and I really liked that car cause it was slightly wider, you know, with the flares and the big wheels and all that.

And it, it’s, it’s, I don’t know, it was the proper evolution because I thought the 3 28 was such a letdown, you know, and we all fell in love with the 3 0 8 because of Magnum and kids of the eighties and all that kinda stuff. But that being said, it’s still a Ferrari. Right. But I, I think we can give you some options.

I mean, it does check all the boxes, right? But there are a lot of other cars that check those same boxes and actually cost less and are less maintenance and less burdening. Certainly. So you don’t [00:13:00] casually buy a 3 48, you sneak it out. No. So either you want the drive, you’re, you’re all in on the driving.

And cost be damned or you’re all in on the brand experience cost be damned right there. There’s no middle ground with 3 48. I will agree with you. I would love a 3 0 8. I was lucky enough for my father had one, I grew up with one I wouldn’t touch a 3 28 and a 3 48, even though it’s the same car is like completely different in my mind.

Cuz it looks like a little baby test and a 3 55 used in another world as far as just maintenance and performance. But yeah, so I think, I think if, if you were dedicated to have one or the other, don’t you lose, don’t you lose the gated shifter in the 3 55 though? It doesn’t. No. So what you lose in the 3 55 that you don’t have in a 3 48 is the dog leg shifter.

So they’re still gated, but the 3 48 and five speed and the 3 55 is six speed. So instead of having one and then two, three, you have your traditional one, two, your H gate. Uh, so not, not to diverge too far off cuz we could probably have a whole episode about Ferrari’s alone, but which one was the first one with the little joystick shifter?[00:14:00]

So the 3 55 is a, is a transmission that, uh, debuted the, uh, the F1 transmission. Terrible. The, uh, eight up clutches. The 360 also had an F1 transmission. They got better, but it’s still very terrible. The four 30, I believe, like 95% of ’em were the whatever version of paddle shift they wanna call it. So if you find a four 30 that’s an actual gated shifter, that’s gonna be the big car that they’re appreciating value.

They actually cost more than a new Ferrari right now. And then the 4 58 are all automatic. Now, I’ll say this though, the 3 48, I don’t like it as a convertible. That’s just a personal thing. I think I would not get a spider. I, I, I love it as a target. Uh, I’m not a big convertible guy in general, unless it’s a hard top.

So Target brings up another thing that we can add. Are you considering targets as op, the open air experie? Some people say they’re not, some people say they are. So for your, for the act of this, for the purpose of this exercise, you are including targets? Yeah, I [00:15:00] would, cause I think the Broncos and stuff like that would fall into, let me give you a, a counterpoint to the Ferrari.

Like I see the Ferrari is too far out in the extreme. Like I would never recommend that to somebody in our group to say, Hey, you want a convertible to go have fun and take your wife out or your girlfriend or, or whatever your, your significant other or your dog . I, I don’t care. Right. But the, the, but the point is like, it’s not a car.

I would just foist on somebody that didn’t have the means to really appreciate it and take care of it. So the opposite extreme of that, because I was digging in and looking at the price points. Model. A Ford. Ford Roadsters. There’s a bunch of those kinds of old hot rods that are actually cheaper than the Ferrari.

They’re a lot of fun. They make a lot of noise. You know, the key bucket. Yeah, exactly. Right. But they’re also have the same problem as the Ferrari in the sense that you have to be able to, to appreciate those cars, maintain them. They’re usually a hodgepodge or poper of like, this Ford actually has a Chevy motor in it from like, you know, [00:16:00] 1990 in a 1948 chassis.

You know, I’m just making those numbers up. But you understand from a dump truck, , right? Yeah, but But you understand what I’m getting at, right? So you can’t, yeah, you can’t go into those cars blindly either. Yeah, I’ll agree with you. And I, I think I’m just gonna rehash my point before I, I think my example and now yours with, with with the model t or, or a tug that I think is a fantastic example is that you are not casually going into that.

Like that’s something that you are like, Hey, this is what I want for, for any, any reason, whether it’s the cool factor or maybe you understand the engineering of it. So like you said, it’s either gonna be a nightmare and you’re wrenching on it and it’s awesome like a factory, five Cobra or anything like that or so you’re just buying it cuz it was cool.

So that is definitely on my list. My plan here is we’re gonna funnel towards like the ultimate decision and that was actually closer to the middle is a factory five Cobra because of what it shares towards, you know, a more modern car. Which actually brings me to my next point. So if we start, if we take the Ferrari in a model, a model T bucket or or T bucket in a Ford Roadster as the [00:17:00] outer extremes of this conversation and start to work our way, way in.

If I’m coming at you from the left, the next thing I would tell you is 55 Ford Thunderbird. You can pick up for 25 k. Uh, Ford Galaxy Convertible and a Pontiac Catalina, all of those V8 s, all of those manual transmission, all of them drop tops. Uh, Packard, Caribbean, I mean Oh, absolutely. If you, if you’re going in the fifties or sixties, to be honest with you, that’s an entire generation that I wasn’t even thinking about.

I mean, they made just about one, just about every car at the v8 and they, and two, just about every car had some sort of manual because automatics weren’t prevalent. Uh, or that good, there were two speeds, maybe a three speed if it had a GL in it, but yeah, no, great, great. Yeah, I didn’t even think about that.

And then obviously any sixties muscle car. But yeah, I, I think those are cars too that I don’t know if you’re casually buying, uh, I think you’re seeking them out either for the fact that it is a 55 Thunderbird or you want that classic car. And as you know, I watch a lot of restoration shows or what we call restoration shows.

And so, you know, the care, the care and feeding [00:18:00] that goes into a lot of those fifties and sixties period cars versus the seven. You know, proper muscle cars is a little bit different. Like the owners of those cars, they’ve treated them with the utmost respect. They want to keep them as original as possible.

If they do rest o mods, they’re very tasteful, they’re very on purpose to keep the car drivable. Like the new EFI from Holly, which is a bolt-on replacement for the four bearer card. A lot of the factory air conditioning, modern suspension, stuff like that where the car still looks and feels like, you know, like a Cadillac or a Thunderbird or whatever it was from that era versus, you know, I got a charger 4 46 pack and it’s blown and like a tails and you know, flames and you know, those cars are crazy and they’re great and they, they have their audience too.

But in this conversation, I guess we’re, we’re all kind of focusing in on a cruiser here. I have a fondness for those, you know, fifties and sixties convertibles. And I think a lot of ’em for the money, they’re big value. And when you get them, as long as you don’t do the whole, bought it [00:19:00] online without really looking at it and kind of, you know, knocking the frame rails to make sure they’re not.

they’re, you know, they’re solid and all that kind of stuff. You are actually getting good value for your money because a lot of those, those Thunderbirds and the Catalinas and stuff, they were running about 25 K. You’re talking Impalas. Yeah. Uh, in the sixties and seventies, they’re, they’re in that price range.

Some of the issues I see with that is, so if you get one that you actually don’t have to work on, , if it is any kind of original or if it’s been resto modeled to a certain point, you’re gonna be on the upper end of the budget, if not over. And if you, if you are under it, you’re gonna end up being over it.

And very much to your point, that’s why a car like the Barracuda, a Barracuda convertible or Acuta convertible, because Barracuda and Acuta aren’t the same thing, actually it’s Right. They changed. Yeah. But, uh, like Acuta convertible, you’re looking at easily entry price of about 75 K. Right? So that’s why it’s not on the list.

I mean, I love those cars. I mean, I love those old seventies challengers, but that doesn’t fit your search criteria, so that’s why they’re not on the list. So, so let’s come at now from the right side, [00:20:00] from the modern side. So we know the Ferrari are on the extreme. So what’s the next notch on the belt inwards from the.

So, I know you had mentioned one thing, so I was gonna let you lead that, lead that charge there and then wants to talk about as well. Let’s just gonna turn it over to Brad, cause I think he had an idea. If we’re not locked in, I’d love to hear it If we’re not locked into v8. S I think Brad has a good one.

uh, well, the Nissan Murano across Cabri is everybody’s dream, but they’re hard to come by. They’re very rare. Is is that a vq. Uh, I believe I, I think so. So it’s not, do they put the 37 in it? So that’s like 30. It’s got power. Yeah. It’s, man, it’s got the, the prestige. All I’m, I’m, I’m, if you’re getting a Murano cab with the dq, I’m buying an HHR and cutting the top off

There you, there you go. If they’re thinking about what we’ve been talking about, he’s already got a project car right. Sitting right behind him. That that’s there is, if you’re just listening, you can’t really, you can’t really see it. But yeah, he’s already [00:21:00] got a, a sixties mustang that he’s working on. He doesn’t want another project.

So it has to be turnkey. Correct. I being the four by four enthusiast, the off-road or inside me and everything, I’m gonna go a little different direction than what we’ve already talked about. Yes. The haha cross cabe gray car, everybody should get one. No, you’re not a true motor. You’re not a true motor sports enthusiast unless you’ve own a cross cabe.

I’m just gonna throw . No, but I’m, I’m thinking. Is it British? No. Yes. Yes it is. Is it a Jack? It’s not a J It’s, no, I have, I have an idea. It’s a Land Rover defender. Oh, hey, . Actually pretty good. You, you can get a nineties 96, 97 ish new Land Rover defender. It’s got the same feel as the, as like a Wrangler, but it’s, it’s not a Wrangler.

So you’re not a, did you hear that? A Jeep Row? [00:22:00] Did you hear that awkward little pause in the audio there? That was the Lucas Electronics failing

LS swapped the world Buick 400 I think in those things, or no, sorry, smaller than that, but it’s a Buick v8, if I recall in the nineties. Yeah, like Matt’s, uh, Matt’s Land Rover. His lr, his disco two is a Buick v8, so it’s probably a very similar motor. I growing up, we had a 64 international scout. I mean, it was a rust bucket, but we took top off and that was so, I, I totally get, and I didn’t even think about we, we mentioned Bronco several times already and I know they’re coming back out with it, but Yeah, no, that’s a, right, that’s a, that’s a solid pick that I, I totally.

And preparing for this, I totally with on a totally called and I was like, oh wait, wait. That’d be, that’d be super cool. Um, some kind of wrangler open. I want, I want one just cuz I’ve had wranglers. I’ve had Well, yeah, I’ll, I’ll do it eventually. So how does the Range Rover discovery, whatever model you said work, you buy it for three [00:23:00] grand and you put 40 into it so it wrong?

No, you buy two of them. You buy two of them like Matt did and you make one out of it. That’s the discovery. The defender actually was a, I mean the nineties defender was a pretty, pretty decent model. They were, they’re very rare cuz they didn’t bring very many of ’em over here. That means they’re very expensive.

If it’s older than 25 years old, we can import one rather easily. But it depends on what your timeframe is too. This isn’t something you’re gonna run down to the dealership and buy. Sure. I I think that’s as solid as if our device is, I think we’re all following into the trap is that we are enthusiasts so that is a full on down the rabbit hole choice as much as say the 3 48 or the sixties.

4 55 Thunderbird is a fantastic choice, but I, I think that misses maybe the spirit of the mainstream turnkey of what we’re trying here, cuz I think that would be a great love, passion for you as much as Defra would be love, passion for me or those 50 60 errors for, for that person. So just shift it back a little bit towards some of our earlier conversations that led up to this.

I know Eric had a couple things that he wanted to bring up. Yeah. So one of [00:24:00] the ones from the right side, and I need verification from you being a diehard BMW guy. Was there an E 92 convertible ? He’s got list, he’s got an E 92. All right. So hard talk convertible v8. The only year with the V8 in it and it comes with automatic, the DCTs actually pretty good.

That was gonna be my counter to a car that you were gonna. No. Yeah, we’re not there yet. That that’s the, that was gonna be, that was gonna be my count of that. But, uh, yeah. So an E 92 M three comes with a six speed, or dct, if you just don’t even want to worry about driving it automatic. It’s got a rear seat that’s actually usable.

It’s a hard time convertible. Since I had that written down, I, I, I, I checked some of the prices on them. They’re ranging anywhere from, believe it or not, like $18,000 for a high mileage one to about 30 for a decent one. Like any BMW uh, M motor, especially from the E 40 Tom Ward. You gotta check the rod bearings on ’em.

It’s a point of failure. [00:25:00] Interesting fact. The V8 in the E 92, uh, the S 65, which has eight independent all the. Is it aluminum and actually 20 pounds lighter than the S 54 it replaced, which was an N 96. And they sound awesome. They get abysmal gas mileage. Is that like 19 on the highway? I don’t think any of us are worried about MPGs.

If not, I would tell you to, right? The td, certainly a car. Certainly a car. You can go down to dealership in, find one, buy, buy it. There’s a million of ’em. You’ll get financing on it. It’s gonna be plush, it’s gonna be comfy, it’s gonna sound cool, it’s gonna look great. They still look pretty modern and it’s super easy to drive.

If you wanted to carve up a back road, you can. I know BMW’s kind of like almost cliche at this point. It depends on who you are, but I think you could, I think you could acknowledge that, uh, anyone going down the road and be, oh, it’s a BMW convertible. The counterpoint to that car would be the SL 55. Yeah.

So , let me, let me point to another one on a list here. So that’s the S [00:26:00] S K A mg No, no, no, no, no, no. But not the slk. The bigger, the bigger cruiser. That’s certainly up classing the M three into like a, A six series. So let’s bun, let’s bundle all those together then, because I had on my list the F type, right?

Because those, as we know, Porsche AL just got a coop and it wasn’t, it wasn’t hard. They didn’t make those convertibles. Yeah, they did. Then you have the S five V8 convertible. What’s, what was the one before the F type? The xj. Yeah, there’s, there was x, the xk. The xk XK was a convertible. I wouldn’t buy it, but yeah, it has a V8 on that, so you can kind of lump all those together.

You could also throw in the Volvo C 70 if you’re going non V8 car, just because of the hard top. If you want to go all the way to the bargain basement on that, you could go all the way down to the VW EOS as well, because it’s a GTI convertible. It’s 3 50, 3 70 G 37 s. All those for me, just, they’re all just blobs.

Of metal on top of wheels going down the road. [00:27:00] No personality whatsoever, but have you thought about a Miata ? Yeah. Spoiler alert. The answer to this podcast is not Miata. You mean a Fiat 1 24? Yeah, I’m all for that. Yeah. I’m all for a vintage route too. If, if we’re not racing it, we’re tracking it, I would, I would take the turbine over there, uh, just so I can play with it and they make better sounds to me.

Just cause turbo noises, I think to Miata, they come with a decent automatic now, right. And the hard top. So, I mean, certainly you can get in and go. I think a lot of people are gonna shy away from how small it is if they’re just looking for a little, I say how, how small it is, and they say little but. , I think what we were kind of lumping together as far as the luxury GT Boulevard cruisers, I think really that’s gonna be the majority of the picks for the, Hey, I just want something to cruise around in and I could track it.

I want it to be, it’s sporty, but I don’t care if it’s actual, it’s what’s called, let’s still come from the Right for a minute before I start going super vintage on you. What about the Camaro? The current Camaros Gen five, six, I guess they [00:28:00] are convertibles and they came in a four cylinder and VA options.

Yeah, so they got rid of the six bangers. Same thing with the Mae Ma four cylinder Turbo and the Coyote and the, the Camaros doing that. You gotta be careful though, because they knew a new Camaro, especially like the two Ss or whatever the top level package is, is actually the same price as about a base Corvette.

So you have to ask yourself, do I need the backseat or do I need all the extra bells and whistles, or I just wanna have cool sounds and open air. Or the Corvette’s are target tops, even the, even the base coop one. So that’ll handle better, be a better drive car. Totally different market in segments, even though we see a ton of ’em out doing the same thing.

But I think for a street vehicle you’re talking something different. And then two, that’s a rack top first, quar top. So I think that’s a big point that we should probably discuss or, you know, a lot of people are gonna go into it. It’s like, Hey, I wanna convertible, or I want open air experience, but I don’t necessarily want a rag top.

So even to get a wrangle or a Bronco or a defender, you’re gonna have soft tops and core tops. [00:29:00] You can put. Uh, even if you have a mito, you’re gonna have soft tops. Hardtops, you keep it on it. Me, I’m over a hardtop guy, had some rack tops. There’s a rack top sitting right there and I hate them. It’s kind of funny because I feel like the hardtop convertibles are this weird way of trying to have your cake and eat it too.

And it just, for me, it doesn’t work if it’s gonna be a convertible, you need to be able to reach up and throw the top back, as you know, while you’re going down the road and, and not worry about, you know, all that other kind of stuff. Like even driving home yesterday from Summit Point, I saw a Bentley hard top convertible and he was trying to put it up, you know, while he was going down the road.

And I’m like, Not really. I mean, I mean, I guess it’s cool, but like even those cars, like there’s all the convertible Bentleys and roses and all those British cars, but they’re not on the list because they don’t meet the price point for another couple years when the bottom falls out of them. If you’re looking for, it’s gonna be your only car, then I can see the appeal to the hard top.

Cuz you’re making a compromise, right? But if it’s like a third or [00:30:00] fourth car, it’s gonna be a toy. I don’t think anything beats a rag top. I just think, I think they, the right car with the rag top just looks cool. It, it’s just, it, they’re just great. Like Eric was saying, throwing the, throwing the top back at any moment.

Like some of ’em, they’re all manual tops. I hate to go back to the Miata, but like a Miata is just a manual top. You literally reach up, you unclip two things and throw it back yourself. I mean, I, I think I like the, the rag top versus the, the hard top. Now granted the SL that I mentioned earlier was a hard top.

I don’t think they had, uh, the rag top in that year that I was looking at. I’m, you’re a fan of the rag tops. They were rag tops up until 2002. Yeah. And I’m talking about the 2000 threes with the motor that Wow. Well, I mean, if that, that goes into a different range now. Um, but I was thinking the ones that they used to race against the, the Terminator Mustangs all the time.

There were the, the, the forum debates about what’s better. The Terminator Mustang or the SL 55, that generation of [00:31:00] SL 55 had the hard top convertible supercharge. Yeah, they lost supercharge. Yeah. They had the E 55 and, uh, all that stuff. Mm-hmm. in there. So, I mean, the Slk EMGs starting from the first ones were supercharged, but then in O five or six, they went to the 5.5 nav eight, which is awesome.

The downside, it was automatic only, but it’s essentially a cobra, a modern day Cobra, very tiny. Front, heavy, big motor, lots of tour supervisor. Negative, negative, negative. The only modern day Cobra is the Viper. Oh, that’s a great point. So what can you get like a mid nineties viper for now, and that that would fit the thing?

So I looked, because you know, I, I argue with Andrew all the time about this and you know, he’s, he’s changing cars constantly. He just got that lease, which is also an open air experience, right. With a very, it’s, it’s it, you know, incredible cosmic power and itty, itty, itty bitty living space. But, you know, he and I go back and forth.

I was there. Well, I make it feel like I [00:32:00] was in Detroit when it happened, but we were all of the age when the Viper was released and you saw Aya Koka and Carol Shelby on stage together with the very first Viper and you’re. What am I seeing? Like what is this? This car is from Star Trek, right? I mean, it was, it was so modern until you boiled it down and realized underneath it’s a truck and it’s basically a cobra all over again.

You know, 40 years later, no, it says no a b s It’s bon, it’s bonkers, but it’s a timeless design. It’s still looks good today. You get a really well cleaned, maintained, even some subtle changes like going to the bigger wheels on the Gen one vipers, they just look fantastic. Right now, Andrews of the camp of the Gen two s, I guess here are the Mercedes built, uh, Vipers, and I’m just like, man, they, to me, the, it’s like I’m looking at a front of a school bus.

I don’t like the big flat nose. I don’t like the, the length and the width of them. You know, there’s something to be said about that V 10 though, you’re looking for [00:33:00] sound that’s hard to beat. The thing is, though, who’s buying that? I think that’s the same person that’s, that’s seeking it out. Who’s seeking out the defender?

The 3 48 or, or the 60 thing? So if I was the, you know, Joe Blow and I had 25, $30,000 to spend realistically and maybe, or maybe even a little more, like we talked about, am I buying an early to mid nineties car that could kill me, or am I gonna go down a lot and pick up that M three, pick up that e-class convertible.

Which is a rack top, you know, that could have a V8 in it, tough sell, or I could buy a brand new four cylinder Mustang. But I know that’s why, why we were saying, uh, V8 for the, for the experience. Yeah, exactly. But that four banger makes more power than the nineties Mustang anyway, so especially with the power pack.

Yeah, absolutely. Hey, even Scott, so certainly, so the thing about the Viper though is if you look at the price point of the tar of ipr, which it comes with its issues, right? If you really dive into those cars, they don’t have windows. The door handles on the outside don’t exist. That’s why you really don’t have the win.

You gotta be able to reach in there to do [00:34:00] stuff. They’re quirky, they’re not fully thought out until they hit about 97, 98, 99. At that point, you’re already about five years into the, into the run and into the build of that car because the, the GTS coop had come out. And so they made all these changes to them and they then those changes kind of trickled down to the target until they finally got rid of the target.

Now that being said, if you look at the price point value for money, I mean, you’re talking in nineties. You know, I guess it would be considered a really high performance sports car, cuz it’s not in the supercar category quite yet. Right? Because now we have high performance sports car supercar, hypercar, and God knows whatever adds after that.

But you can pick up a Gen one viper for about 25 K all day long. I search for ’em on the regular just because it, it helps my boyish fantasy. But, It’s one of those cars that for 25 K versus the Ferrari that we started talking about, I can buy two in, in, in comparison, right? And have a parts car if I needed it.

So for me, being a wrench Turner, I’d [00:35:00] be okay with it. And I kind of want that brutal experience that the Viper brings. Like I, it’s like, come on man, send it. I, I want you to try to kill me secretly, I wanna learn to tame that car. But, you know, we’ll, we’ll get there eventually. That’s probably a topic for another day, but I, I still think the Viper could be a contender, but it’s a very long reach for that everyday cruiser jump in and go have fun car, because I think there are some maintenance issues there with the car longer term.

So before we go too, uh, into the weeds, and we can talk about this all night, I don’t want this to run on forever, so it’s too long for anyone to listen to. I have. Uh, questions I wanna ask either of you, uh, either of you, all of you. And then, uh, I think we’ll all answer it real quickly. So we’re talking about some convertibles and we brought, we brought up a two seat first, uh, four seat.

Mm-hmm. . So what would be your preference, uh, or your recommendation to someone who’s saying, Hey, I’m looking for a second vehicle convertible. And then obviously, because the chassis that you’re gonna look at, whether it’s a, a, a two plus two or just a two [00:36:00] seater is different. Me, I’m thinking verbal, I’m thinking open air experience while some of the two plus twos are in the SUVs are a great choice.

I’m going with a two seater. Uh, I’m going with a four seater

Okay. And I guess I’m going with whatever suits my wallet at this point. , I’m not partial. I don’t really care. You could, some preference. I think you could find things that, that fit the wallet in the, in either category. I mean, how about Eric personally? What would Eric personally. So there there’s a difference.

If I’m recommending for you, like I have something in mind that I think fits all the criteria, and we can talk about that towards the end of the segment, but for me personally, if I’m just buying for myself, the Fiat 1 24, both new and old. Um, I’m a big fan of nine 14, but then I already have one, so it’s like whatever.

I like the nine 11 targets, but I’m partial to the 9 64, which is your 1989 to 1992 timeframe with the three six I’m outside of that, I [00:37:00] am actually okay with the Mark three or Mark three and a half VW Cabrios, the ones that look like a Mark four, and they’re actually not, because a lot of guys do VR six swaps on those.

There are a lot of fun once you get ’em straightened out, all that kind of stuff. Even, even the backseat on that is. . Yeah, I’m not, I, but I don’t care. I can put the kids in the back still, but I’m not putting four grown adults in that car. Another one I actually enjoyed driving. I got a chance to drive for a little over a week, uh, while I was in San Diego, was a convertible beetle with the five cylinder.

As weird as that sounds, that car checked all the boxes. It was the simplicity of, you know, crank the handle, throw the top back, plenty of power, plenty of torque, came in E manual, decent gas mileage. It was a great everyday car, you know, if it was just you so, and mission three cylinders. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I am a big fan of the 94 Audi Cabrio, the one that looks like the, the coup Quatro, but they chopped the top off of it, which it is basically the same car that came with a v6. Sadly, [00:38:00] it has a terrible automatic transmission strap to it, but that’s easily remedied. I think in addition to that, I think the only other two, two or four.

Two seats or four seats. Oh, I, I don’t care either. I’m fine. Okay. But, but let me clarify why I said four since there was that awkward silence. You all were expecting me to say more and I thought I was just answering a question. But anyway. Yeah, it’s fine. . Yeah, I answered the question. That’s all I was required to do

But for anybody that doesn’t know me, I’m six four and 300 pounds . Most of the two seaters, I’m not gonna fit. I don’t care how far the seat goes back or whatever, I’m not gonna make it. So I’m looking the two plus two at least gives me room to, to put the seat back a little further. Uh, and to go with what Eric was saying, you know, if I’m gonna list some of the convertibles that are on my, my hot list, the defender, the [00:39:00] Wrangler, uh, are the two biggest ones.

Cuz right now I’m on a big four by four kick and I miss my tj. Really? I, I miss it a lot. Uh, that, that’ll go into another segment, you know, in another podcast later also. Funny enough, I want like a seventies beetle convertible. Yeah, the super bees. Yeah. And, and then I want a sixties Impala convertible. So if, if size wasn’t the issue, Brad, let’s just say theoretically you didn’t have fitness issues or the cars that you had.

or you’ve been in two seats, uh, that you have fit in. I mean, what would your preference be for yourself? I think his preference would be to be six inches short or four feet . Yeah. No, no, no, no. I don’t think, I don’t think that, I don’t think you’d give that up. No. I wanna be, I, I wanna be taller. Um, no, I, I, my preference is still four seater.

Okay. I’m still leaning. So my second question on the, on the, on two or three, I’m gonna ask you guys, we’ll start with Eric. Um, of the, some of the cars that we’ve [00:40:00] listed, obviously we’re talking about experiences and, uh, open air has been the big thing. And, but let’s, we’ll go back to kind of why we pegged ourself on, on eight cylinders.

It was for sound, so I, I’ll open it up to non eight cylinders. But of those things, what would be, especially the ones we’ve talked about with this way, we don’t have to bring up something else. Uh, yeah. So what would be a, a motor that’s like, Hey, listen, that’s just got a very distinct sound. I think I have some ideas where you’re gonna go, but, so Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the first thing outta my mouth is gonna be VR six, just because. Yeah, it’s in the blood. There are two other cars on my list that I didn’t mention, and they’re basically the same car, right? One is vintage and one is modern. The Carmen Gia convertible, which I adore those cars. Coop and convertible and the tt, right?

And you know, I already have a coop, so it’d be kind of cool to have a convertible. The sound of the one eight Turbo, if you get the right exhaust. Something from maybe from Tectonics or something like that. They actually sound really good. The stuff we run at the track, it’s loud for the sake of being loud, right?

So the VR has got a great sound, but if I had to really funnel in on a car, especially for eight [00:41:00] cylinders on eight cylinders, I’m going there, right? If I had to be reasonable about my purchase and say I want something fun, the checks the box. There are four or five cars on that list. Fox Body Mustang, because the five oh back then sounds fantastic with a proper exhaust.

And I would actually venture to say the C4 Corvette convertible, even though styling wise, it’s, it’s. It’s still very night rider and that’s fine, but the C5 convertible is another option cuz those motors sound great. You could also Brad’s like falling out of his chair cause I’m recommending a Chevy.

Nobody, nobody chooses the Barbie. Corvette willingly. What the heck is wrong with you? . Wait, wait. So uh, clarify on the c4, are we talking the gen one, gen two small block or are we talking like the LT one? The original LT one, which was still technically block, but they definitely had the crossfire and they, uh, ignition and they have, they do have distincts out.

So I [00:42:00] would usually defer to Mountain, bay and Band to answer that question. But in my personal case, if it was my C4 Corvette, I would probably ditch all that , have an LS two in it, or I would put a Z original Z one motor in it. Right. Something like that, because I can’t leave anything a look. But to add to that list Factory five Cobra like Andrew Mason has, that is definitely an option because I actually looked Dan Reader and they, yeah, Dan Reader, and they come up on the list when you search like cars.com in that criteria that I said manual transmission with a V8 convertible under 45 k.

You can actually pick up replica cobras for under 30. So I was like, value for money. And you wanted, if you’re building one done, you can’t do it. No, no. I’m saying buying one. Buying one ready to go. Right. So for under 30, it’s actually, it’s a car that gets people’s attention. If that’s what you’re looking for.

It do, it checks all the boxes. Now you have to respect that car. And I will say they handle better, from what I understand, than the original AC cobras and all that kind of stuff. Oh, there are two chassis cars. I would hope so. And, and, and they have some [00:43:00] advantages and modernizations and all that kinda stuff.

So it’s a very much more tame car compared to the original. Right. So that’s on my list. But I, you know, to kind of drive the point home, again, being the responsible adult, I have inevitably become, I guess regrettably become, I have to argue for the S five 50 coyote powered Mustang convertible. I do like Coyo, the way the coyote sound.

They have a certain spaceship sound to ’em that I just love. All, I don’t know what it is. So Brad, what would be a motor, preferably a VA that gets your, gets your willies going the most of maybe something we’ve talked about or that we didn’t, that in an open air experience, you would, you would enjoy.

Maybe it’s a Willy’s cheap, the small box, the five oh Mustangs. Are they, I mean there’s nothing that sounds like them. Uh, the five Oh Mustang convertible is just the early nineties. The, the Fox body not, and then the, an Impala, a sixties Impala with a [00:44:00] big lock. Yeah, a big block Definitely has, yeah. Four 50 sounds fantastic.

Like a 4 54, 4 96 big old cam and yeah, cam with like 800 lift and like some, some something, something loy, you know, it’s got a nice little lope to it, but it, but it’s not like too bad where it’s undrivable in the street. Um, something with a little bit of lope and it gets 200 horsepower , because that’s how the big fox works.

Yeah. Right. So, uh, uh, a very. , I can smell the how rich it’s running. So it idles super sixties drag strip. Mm-hmm. lump, like every Oh, you’ve ever been around, right? Yeah, basically. So, or if I just pulled, you know, a spark plug on any modern v8, it’s like, but I will say, I will say in current times, like what’s going, what’s out for sale now?

And over the last say 10 to 15 years, I don’t think there’s anything out there that sounds better than the Mercedes Amm GV eight s. That is a hard [00:45:00] sound beat. They, they definitely have a distinct thumb to ’em. So, uh, my answer’s gonna be kind of obvious. Uh, my original, then I got two or three runner ups.

So obviously any the dino style V8 Ferrari, cuz in a four 30, it was a clean sheet. It’s not the, the Dino, uh, engine from the seventies all the way up to, I think the, the 3 55 ended in 2000 or 99 99. So, but the 360 s ran to oh five or oh four, uh, and those were the last ones of those motors. So any, any any car that you picked there?

Probably a 3 55 with a 3 48. Uh, the 3, 3 55 or the 360 specifically, cuz they have the five valves, so they just, they’re 9,000 rpm. They absolutely scream. Uh, people in my family have ’em. You guys have heard it. It’s ridiculously loud, but it’s still butter smooth. Sounds like an F1 car going down the road.

Now. Not everyone’s can of worms. Sounds like two more bikes going side by side. Sometimes it’s a little tinny. A little raspy. Not everyone’s into that. I love it screaming. I just think it sounds cool. Uh, kind of why, believe it or not, I [00:46:00] like the vq. So the VQ sounds very similar to that. It’s got that, that certain how, uh, even the v r six has a a, a very rolling.

How similar to that. Yeah, it’s kinda, you know, the VQ and some of the Ferrari modes are a little more, uh, shrill, which I like. I will agree that the AMGs. Have an awesome sound to it. Uh, very smooth. Um, but I will say that the newer Chevy lt one motors actually sound different than the lss. I had an LT one in a C7 Corvette, and the thing that absolutely Russell’s my Jimmy’s is I remember in geez, 2014 to 2015, I was down at Daytona for the Rolex, and the C seven R had just came out.

And I’m listening to it go by and for some reason it could be in a pack of cars. And I can hear that distinctly from everything else. They just sounded like hammers hitting the ground. And, uh, I, I really believe having, having one and having heard others, especially ones with exhaust, that the factory LT cars, whether it [00:47:00] be the new Camaro or or, or the new Corvette, certainly have that very distinct sound different from the lss, which was different than the small block, more of the style.

Brad was talking about it, the lumpy, but they’re still very smooth and they rev and I think they just, they have a different base to ’em, and I can’t define it, but I think those, that sounds. It just dawned on me. John, you’ve been talking about Ferrari. I thought you said Fierro. Isn’t that a target as well?

Yeah, it could. So doesn’t have a V8 in it. Luckily doesn’t have the v6. You can’t supercharge ’em. I mean, you can’t put a Ferrari body kit or V8 body kit on it. FI’s, listen, we’ve had a few come out to the track on the radar. The car, I mean if you wanna see out 1 24, get yourself Sierra. Yeah. X nine. Right da.

Right. So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I interrupt this podcast with a special announcement. Oh boy. Cadillac xlr. Oh god. So that was actually the North Star motor. Mm-hmm. . It didn’t you? So the Cadillac XL XLR for people to know is hard time convertible. [00:48:00] It’s a C5 underneath, even though it was around during the years of, uh, the crossover from C5 to c6.

But it’s a North star motor, so you don’t have to change the oil for whether they say like a hundred thousand miles. They’re gonna go without oil like, You won’t have it long enough. It wouldn’t go a hundred thousand miles afford you head gaskets cause they lead coal the whole time. , my big problem with the XLR is they took a C5.

And ran it through the same software that they used to produce Max Headroom. And we ended up with that car. I mean at like who designed that thing? You know, . So I just don’t get it. On one hand, you have to look at the X O R and go, what was Cadillac thinking? Right? On the other hand, you have to, you gotta give credit to the xlr.

They were going where an uncharted territory. And most importantly, you’ll remember Tim Allen came out and was the one who announced this. That was the first V car for Cadillac. Yeah, that’s true. So that launched their whole. And the Cadillacs Xlr vs. Are supercharged North stars. And, um, supposed to be doing the same thing with that black wing motor.

And then, and I know we’re supposed to be [00:49:00] circling back to a conclusion here, which we will never, I got one more question for you, . And now one question. Why don’t you finish, go ahead. So, but I was gonna say, there are some other cars that were probably not even thinking about. Like, it kind of popped into my head.

The, uh, in, in Britain it was the Voxel Insignia, which it was sold here as the Buick Regal. But the Regal convertible, if you’re just looking for something, I don’t wanna call it run in the mill, but if you’re looking at something somewhat stylish, reasonably priced, you could pick up new. That’s also another option.

And it does come with a six-cylinder gm, six. Oh, they have, uh, I mean the, what is it, the Cascade where it’s a cruise? That’s a, yeah, something like that. I think the Cascade is a, is an EOS or a Beetle if they still made ’em, or, uh, a morano, believe it or not, if you wanted to go that. But I mean for, for the listening audience, I think we, as you mentioned, we’re enthusiast, so we’re always kind of thinking German or thinking very high end American.

But there are other options to this equ, you know, other, so there’s a, there’s a, what was it? The Toyota [00:50:00] Solaris. It’s a two door Camry that’s uh, a drop top. Fantastic car will last forever. It’s super soft. It’s perfect for a rental fleet. And you can have that in your driveway too for about 10 bucks.

that’s the truth, right? I mean the oil change will be more than, uh, than the car. And uh, it’ll have as much personality as um, your dead grandfather. So, um, so my last question I’m gonna circle back is you’re gonna have to pick, uh, is somewhat of a conclusive one, cuz even that’s gonna take some time. Of all the things we talked about, we wanted to go, Hey, what’s like a blue collar car car that can go out with a max max match of $50,000, preferably less.

Convertible that had a V8 in it. All the other options, automatic two seat four C, suv, whatever, open air motoring, v8. Right? That was our thing under $50,000. I think there’s two picks here for each person. So I’ll start with mine. So I’m gonna go with my enthusiast and which [00:51:00] would also be my personal pick, which as we mentioned before, is probably gonna be any car for Mona that you can afford.

That’s not Aand deal because that’s just terrible. But you wanna pick a 3 0 8 be Magnum pi. You wanna pick a 3 28 and be silly? I think the 3 48 or 3 55 s you can find one over a price range. It’ll be a little more beat up, but that’s really an enthusiast. Car checks all the boxes. It’s open air. Sounds absolutely wicked.

It will drain your wallet as fast as it drains the gas tank though. So that’s something you just gotta be aware of. But I mean, driver experience, which is what we were like really getting at driver experience, I think it’s second or none and I don’t think you’re gonna lose any money on it. Far as the value of the car.

I think you’ll be in that car whenever you pay for it. I think so. I think the only money you’ll lose on that is the operating cost and the maintenance on it. Because if you buy a 3 48 today for $45,000, you’re gonna sell it in four, five years for. $45,000. Uh, regardless if you put 2000 or probably 15,000 miles on it, which would be a lot.

I mean, that’d be three 4,000, uh, miles a year, which on those cars are a [00:52:00] lot. Um, if I were to buy one, I’d probably be doing about five to 6,000, maybe 3000 miles on it a year. It’s about what I do in a toy cars now, especially if there’s a street car. If I wanted something a little more mainstream, something to have Bluetooth, something that had heated seed, something that was a little more comfortable, or I just, Hey, I could, you know, it’s a nice day out.

I can drive it to work three, four days a week if I wanted to, I could take it to the beach. I could park it in supermarket and go to CVS and not care about dinging it up, or every person asking me a question, whether it’s a Thunderbird or, uh, an older British tank that’s gonna get a lot of attention or a bright red Ferrari.

I’m gonna go with the, the E 92 M. Hard top. I can live with that on a daily basis if I wanted to. It goes up and down. Uh, the three series, they’re, they’re very plain in their execution so that they get a lot of, uh, rib, they get ribbed for that. Uh, but that’s a good thing in this scenario cuz it’s not gonna be a ton of problems.

The BMWs have some issues, but they’re pretty straightforward. Cars been around long enough where a lot of the problems are, uh, easily solved. It’s, we’re not figuring things out anymore. Mm-hmm. , uh, we know which ones [00:53:00] to avoid. We wouldn’t know which ones to find. Uh, your wife could drive it. I say that in the sense that anyone can drive it.

So if they don’t drive a stick, it’s not a problem. There’s a, a really good transmission there. It’s not just some slush box. If you don’t want the rattles of a rag top, you got the hard top. It’s a v8, it’s fat on gas seats four. It’s got a nice trunk. I mean, you can drive across country with it. You can. Um, uh, it’d be perfect.

One lap of America car if you wanna do, uh, uh, convertible. So it’ll go on track and it’ll go there. And realistically, they’re, they’re way under budget, right? So you could probably get a really nice example for 25, the 30, and have some money to left over. If you had to spend that extra money. If you had a $45,000 cash or check that you absolutely had to spend, you could spend another five, $10,000 on the car making you your own, whether do some wheels or some suspension or whatnot.

But I think the, generally speaking, the type of people that we’re recommending, these two aren’t necessarily doing that. So, hey, listen, save some money. Get a cool car that looks a lot more expensive than it is cuz it’s still a [00:54:00] bmw. It’s still only last year’s bmw. The G 20 just came out. So really it’s only a generation old, even though technically it’s two.

But most the general public won’t know that they all look the same. And then you go from there. So my, in my, my personal enthusiast pick would be probably a 3 48. And I think the, the run of the mill, if I were to say, Hey, I wanna look at a convertible. I want to v8, I want to sound cool. I’d say go get yourself and M 90, uh, e 92, M 3:00 AM my runner up, which we didn’t talk about, would be any, uh, C five C 67 Corvette that you can find in the price range with a target top.

You pick your styling, they’re all truck motors, which stout transmissions and do smokey burnouts. So just pick one that you like, uh, and go from there. Uh, so for me, I’m gonna break it down to off Roader low and slow and just street Cruiser. So, for the Off Roader, obviously I want to do a defender, uh, like a nineties defender or a tj uh, Wrangler with a motor swap.

Probably a, an LS one cuz they’re, they’re, you can, they [00:55:00] can be had for relatively cheap. Uh, and they, there’s all kinds of kits out there, you know, that fit right in for the low and slow. I’m thinking like a sixties. I, it’s a low and slow A and b, it’s a sixties impala or a sixties Lincoln Continental. Nice.

Um, the, the, I would love one, the suicide doors, four doors, suicide doors. I dunno, I don’t know if a well sorted don’t get shot in them. Yeah. I don’t know if a well sorted one’s gonna be in the budget. Um, those cars are pretty desirable, especially after Entourage came out. So, so a decent one is about 25, $30,000.

I know. Cause I, I look constantly cause I love those cars. Okay. So, so then yeah, that they, that ticks all the boxes for me. Also for just regular cruiser drop top it, turnkey, you go to the dealership, pick one up anywhere. The thel Mercedes with the, the v8, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an AM MG probably without the AMMG moniker makes it better for daily driver use.

Uh, and parts are gonna be [00:56:00] a little bit cheaper cause it doesn’t have the AMG tax and things like that. I, I think the SL Mercedes of the two thousands, uh, the early two thousands. I think those are my picks. They like invented sporty convertibles. The SLS in the fifties with the goal was, I, I will do an honorable mention and it’s gonna be, uh, a five Oh Fox body Mustang of the Yeah, the Fox Body generation.

Sam is so proud of you right now. So Brad, a t top Fox body or a soft top rag top Fox body? Uh, I said Fox body Mustang T tops only. Look right on Camaros. You know the mullets gotta flow in the wind behind you. . Yes. I, oh man, I, I love me and Iro, but go ahead, Eric. All right, so I’m gonna lead with my number one pick.

For anybody that’s looking for a turnkey vert in the last four years, that’s gotta be an S five 50 Coyote powered five oh Mustang. It’s a handsome looking car. It looks good [00:57:00] as a coupe. It looks as good as a convertible, and a lot of people say, no, it doesn’t. But I actually, I’ve looked at them over and over.

The silhouette of the car is fantastic. It doesn’t lose any of the appeal that the coup has. It’s got all the same packaging, all the same, uh, you know, electronic stuff, all the creature comforts, everything you could ask for is in that. Mustang, right At the end of the day, that for me, checks every box on the list and Ford warranty and everything else that comes with that, right?

And I could go buy one today, unlike the M three where I have to go hunt for one. The Mustangs are more plentiful. They’re just, they’re everywhere. And the price point is well under the tip, the M S R P that you put out in terms of what your budget was. So I think, again, the Mustang comes in a variety of colors.

If they made a GT three 50 convertible version, sign me up, you know, with that flat plane crank, you can’t beat that sand. I’m sorry, that would be 70, $80,000. . But you get my point though, right? So Oh, absolutely. There’s a lot of things you can do with the Mustang. The other thing I look at is I’m not a fan of the hard top.

Like we talked about, the soft top is fine for me, [00:58:00] but the aftermarket following for the Mustang is also much larger than every car we’ve talked about here. There’s wheel packages, brake packages, stuff you can swap. Uh, you want body kits, you want wings, you want, it doesn’t matter. You want bling, it’s available, right?

So I also look at it from that perspective because everybody wants to personalize their car. The E 92, M three is an example, it’s a solid car, it’s a solid choice, but you’re limited in what you can do and you’re also still running around in those kind of German circles of if you can’t get the parts from Bimmer World or ECS is the only place you’re gonna get the parts from.

Right. Ford I can, I can get parts for that car and maintain it at every 7-Eleven parts in every state, right? It doesn’t matter. You can buy a coyote from Walmart, right? Personal, like this is the car I have to have because I’m having an absolute midlife crisis. There’s really three of them, in that category for me.

The factory five Cobra, the Dodge Viper, uh, gen one and the Fiat 1 24 Abarth. Right? But that’s a personal guilty pleasure. [00:59:00] I’m losing my mind and I have to have a convertible car. All of those fit those price points. But if I have to stay true to. And pick a bag product, I would get an S five Cabrio with, if the manual is an option, I would do it with the v8, but I have to have the chains fixed.

Right. And the chain guides fixed immediately. Right? Immediately. It’s like a nine 11 with the IMS bearings and stuff. Right. So what, what year did they switch to the supercharge motor? The three, oh, that was the 1213. . B I don’t reme. I don’t, I, I, I’ve, I’ve separated myself from the B 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, whatever the heck they are now.

Yeah. But, but I just know that, you know, those, those four, two motors when they’re taken care of, they’re actually quite reliable. They make good power. It’s easy to get 400 out of ’em, especially if you do like an RS chip and stuff like that. So those are what, 8,000 rpm 85? Yeah, they spin pretty high. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing is you can get ’em with Quattro, so you can actually use it in the wintertime. So I [01:00:00] see that for me, it’s also a four seater, a two plus two. Uh, so you can use that even to cart the family around and use it as an everyday cart, even as a convertible. So that pretty much, you know, kind of wraps up my thing.

But I, I would still, if I’m recommending for somebody else, it’s really hard to beat that forward when you really look at it compared to everything else we’ve talked about here. I think the S five is a, is a fantastic choice. I know we didn’t talk about it much. Um, I’m surprised you don’t have one right now.

I may. I, you know, hopefully I see you this weekend. You might be driving up on one that we forced it out and realized how much sense it makes for you in your life. Yeah, right. But, uh, no guys, I enjoyed it a bunch. I know we could talk all night about this. Oh, absolutely. Hopefully we can pick some other topics or we’ll get back from everyone else and, and see what they said.

Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for being on as well. We appreciate you having me. Oh, I, I appreciate being out. So as, as long as I’m around, hopefully I can, I can help you guys out. Absolutely. And this is a lot more civil than some of the conversations go on Slack, so I really enjoyed this. But with that, let me close with something [01:01:00] real quick and I wanna make sure the listeners understand, you know, uh, where, where we are on things.

Here. As a full disclaimer, GTMs high level assessment of all the cars we’ve talked about is based on our member and ownership experiences, and we urge you to do your own research and fact checking before committing to any one vehicle. G t M is not responsible for your satisfaction, happiness, or overall track experience with the vehicle that you choose.

Make sure to visit some vehicle specific online forums and or owner’s clubs for highly detailed and firsthand information on any vehicle you might be interested in. Did John write that for you? No, no, no. . He is the resident law lawyer in the group. The consigliere? Yes. I got one question for Brad. When you’re rolling and you’re five, oh, who are you listening to?

Oh, wow. Snoop. No, it’s gotta be Vanilla Ice, man. You’re cruising your five. Oh, no, I’m cr I’m, I’m cruising in my six foa. My six foa. [01:02:00] Oh, all right. Dr. Dre double dump. And on that bombshell . I guess we’ll end it. Peace. See you all later.

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